Tape dispenser for multiple rolls

ABSTRACT

Shaft means is mounted upon a base and supports a plurality of adjacent plate members for rotation around the axis of said shaft. Said plate members define substantially identical and regular polygons circumscribed by identical circles coaxial with said shaft axis. Plural rolls of tape having coaxial openings with diameters substantially identical to the diameters of said circumscribed circles can be sleeved over said plate members for separate, independent rotation. A cutting edge is mounted upon the base for severing portions of the tape from the rolls thereof.

United States Patent Waltz 1 Jan. 18, 1972 [54] TAPE DISPENSER FORMULTIPLE ROLLS [72] Inventor:

[73] Assignee:

Edward Waltz, Grand Rapids, Mich.

The E. 0. Bulman Manufacturing Company, lnc., Grand Rapids, Mich.

221 Filed: Oct. 22, 1969 211 Appl.No.: 868,393

[52] US. Cl. ....225/37, 225/35, 206/59 R [51] Int. Cl. .3265 3/02 [58]Field of Search ..225/47, 34-39, 225/91, 33; 242/552, 55.3, 68; 206/52R, 59 R, 59

C, 59 E, 59 F [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 958,062 5/1910Adkins ..242/55.3

2,591,694 4/1952 Gilbert ..242/55.3 X 3,173,590 3/1965 Bahnsen ..225/333,317,099 5/1967 Solomon ..242/55.3 X

Primary Examiner-Andrew R. Juhasz Assistant Examiner-Leon GildenAttorney-Woodhams, Blanchard and Flynn [57] ABSTRACT Shaft means ismounted upon a base and supports a plurality of adjacent plate membersfor rotation around the axis of said shaft. Said plate members definesubstantially identical and regular polygons circumscribed by identicalcircles coaxial with said shaft axis. Plural rolls of tape havingcoaxial openings with diameters substantially identical to the diametersof said circumscribed circles can be sleeved over said plate members forseparate, independent rotation. A cutting edge is mounted upon the basefor severing portions of the tape from the rolls thereof.

8 Claims, 6 Drav ving Figures BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION dispensingmaterials from plural rolls thereof, such as rolls of Christmas wrappingtape of various colors, sizes and types, have long recognized the needfor a dispensing device capable of supporting the various rolls forcompletely independentrotation. Existing devices for dispensingmaterials from rolls fall into two general categories, namely, those inwhich the roll supports are not readily adaptable to the varying rollwidths and those which have a single roll support so that all rolls tendto rotate when one is rotated for the purpose of dispensing thetapeltherefrom. In other words, the user must choose between a dispenserupon which the rolls of specific axial sizes must be used, in order toget independent roll rotation, or a substantially single roll supportwhich tends to rotate all rolls when one isrotated.

Elaborate attempts have been'made in the past to overcome this problem.For example, alternate roll support members have been furnished with thedispenser so that many variations in axial roll dimension could beaccomodatedI-Iowever, this necessitated the storage of such extrarollers and additional expense.

Another serious problem confronting the mounting of plural adjacentrolls of strip material on a single existing dispenser involves thesevering of the-tape from the roll. Where three or more rolls arecoaxially supported adjacent to each other, the strip of tape on atleast one roll is located between two other strips and, accordingly, isat least difficult to grasp. Often an attempt to grasp the middle stripresults in tangling or snarling the adjacent strips and this can beextremely inconvenient during a package-wrapping operation involvingstrips coated with an adhesive.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is the provision of adevice for rotatably supporting plural, axially adjacent rolls ofmaterial so that each roll can rotate completely independently ofadjacent rolls, said devicehaving means for severing parts of thematerial from the remainder thereof on the rolls.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a dispensingdevice, as aforesaid, which is able to accommodate rolls of any axialdimension within the limits of themaximum length of the roll-supportingmechanism, which permits rotation of said rolls so that the materialthereon can be readily and easily dispensed by a cutting edge, which canbe manufactured inexpensively and upon which rolls of different axiallengths can be quickly mounted or removed without any adjustment in thedispenser.

Other objects and purposes of this invention will become apparent topersons familiar with this type of equipment upon reading the followingdescriptive material and examining the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG, 1 is a perspective viewof a dispenser embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a broken, top plan view of said dispenser.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line lII-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side-elevational \n'ew of a modified dispenser embodying theinvention.

FIG. 5 is a broken, front view of said modified dispenser.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 5.

For convenience in description, the terms upper," lower, front," "rearandwords ofsimilar import will have reference to the dispenser of theinvention-when located in .its normal position of operation, FIG. 2illustrating the top of the dispenser, the front of which is at the leftend of the view. The words inner," outer" and derivatives thereof willhave reference to the geometric center of the dispenser and principalparts thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects and purposes of the invention,including'those set forth above, have been met by providing a dispenserhaving a base-supporting shaft means upon which a plurality ofidentical, adjacent plate members are supported for coaxial rotation.Said plate members are circumscribed by identical circles coaxial withthe shaft means so that plural rolls of material having openings equalto said circles can be sleeved upon the plate members and each roll isrotatable around said shaft means independently of adjacent rolls. Acutting edge is mounted upon the base means for severing portions of thematerial from the rolls.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The dispenser 10 (FIG. I) has a substantiallychannelshaped base 11 including a front flange 12, a rear flange 13 anda supporting web 14 therebetween. A pair of integral, parallel andspaced arms 16 and 17 project frontwardly from the opposite ends of theupper edge of the rear flange 13 to a line approximately midway betweenthe upper edges of the front and rear flanges.

A pair of U-shaped clips 18 and 19 (FIG. 2) are mounted upon the frontends of the arms 16 and 17, respectively. Specifically, the clip 19 hasa lower leg 22 which extends along the lower surface of the front end ofthe arm 17 and is rigidly secured thereto by the rivet 23. The upper leg24 of the clip 19 is spaced above the arm 17 and is arcuate, the concavesurface thereof facing downwardly. The rearward edge of the upper leg 24may be flared upwardly to facilitate entry of the adjacent end of theshaft 26 between the upper leg 24 and the arm 17. v

The clip 18 (FIG. 3) has lower and upper legs 22A and 24A, respectively,and the adjacent end of the shaft 26 can be yieldably held between theupper leg 24A and the arm 16.

The shaft 26, which is removably held within the clips 18 and 19, has atransverse pin 27 extending through and beyond both sides thereof. Thefront side 28 of the clip 19, which extends between the legs 22 and 24thereof, has an opening 29 into which one end of the pin 27 can bereceived. The pin 27 positively opposes rotation of the shaft 26relative to the clips 18 and 19, hence the base 11.

A plurality of roll-supporting plate members 32 have central openings 33(FIG. 2) through which the shaft 26 is'snugly but rotatably received.Each plate member 32 is preferably identical with every other platemember and preferably has the peripheral shape of a regular polygon,here a hexagon. Each plate member is circumscribed by an imaginarycircle concentric with the shaft 26 and preferably substantiallyidentical with the diameter of the center opening 34 in each roll 36supported by the dispenser 10. In this embodiment, each plate member isseparated from the nextby an annular spacer 37, such as a washer, whichrotatably encircles the shaft 26. The spacers 37 may be independent ofthe plate members or secured to one of the adjacent plate members whichit separates. However, the arrangement is loose to avoid inducedrotation between adjacent plate members.

While plate members 32 of identical shape and size are disclosed forillustrative purposes, it will be recognized that, for example, theplate members at one end of the shaft 26'might be substantially larger,while being of uniform circumscribed size, than the plate members at theother end of the shaft 26 so that rolls having central openings ofdifferent sizes can be mounted upon and supported by the same dispenser.Also, as long as the plate members have the same circumscribed size,they may be comprised of different or even irregular polygons. Moreover,plate members having just two points of contact with a said roll may beused, particularly where the roll encircles several plate members.

A cutting blade 38 having a serrated cutting edge 39 is mounted upon theupper end of the front flange 12 by means of screws 42. The cutting edge39 is preferably parallel with the shaft 26 and spaced therefrom adistance sufficient to avoid interference thereby with the rotation ofthe rolls 36. The cutting edge 39 is arranged to be engaged by thestrips 43 to sever portions thereoffrom the rolls 36.

FIG. 3 illustrates modified plate members 46 interleaved, alternately,with plate members 32A, which may be identical with the plate members 32in FIG. 2. The modified plate members 46 have projections 47 on bothsides thereof for engaging the plate members 32A adjacent thereto andthereby spacing adjacent plate members 46 and 32A from each other. Theprojections 47 are preferably arranged along a circle concentric withthe shaft 26 (FIG. 4) to avoid wobbling.

The dispenser 51 illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 may be identical withthe dispenser 10 except for the auxiliary cutting blade 52 mounted uponthe front flange 12A above the cutting blade 38A by means including thefront and rear support plates 53 and 54. The cutting blade 52 has acutting edge 56 which is preferably parallel with and is spaced from thecutting edge 39A. The cutting edge 56 (FIG. 5) is aligned radially withone of the rolls 36 whereas the cutting edge 56 is aligned with anadjacentroll 36. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4, the strip from either rollcan be grasped with ease and without being obstructed by the strip fromthe other roll.

OPERATION The operation of the dispenser described above will beapparent to persons skilled in this art upon reading such description.However, for convenience, the operation will be summarized hereinafter.

Since the plate members 32 (FIG. 2) or 32A and 46 (FIG. 3) can beprovided in various diametrical sizes, such sizes will be governed bythe diameter of the center openings 34 in the rolls 36 to be mountedupon said plate members. Accordingly, when plate members of theappropriate size are mounted upon the shaft 26, the roll or rolls ofstrip material can be sleeved upon the plate members 32 or 32A and 46 asappearing in FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively.

The plate members 32 (FIG. 1), for example, can he randomly positionedcircumferentially as appearing at the right front end of the shaft 26 orthey can be uniformly arranged as appearing at the left rear end of theshaft without interfering in the least with the mounting of the rollsthereon because said plate members are circumscribed by identicalcircles, hence, by the same cylinder.

It will be seen that the adjacent rolls can be placed almost in axialengagement provided that the plane of partition between them extendsbetween a pair of adjacent plate members. Yet, upon rotation of oneroll, the adjacent roll or rolls will not be affected in the least. Thatis, the loose relationship between adjacent plate members, providedeither by the annular spacers 37 or the projections 47, will nottransmit rotary motion from one roll to an adjacent roll.

Where three or more rolls are supported upon a single dispenser, asshown in FIG. 5, it may be desirable and advantageous to provide dualcutting edges 39A and 56 to facilitate manual engagement of the strips43 of material being dispensed from the rolls 36.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has beendisclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognizedthat variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, includingthe rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the presentinvention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A device for rotatably and coaxially supporting plural rolls ofmaterial and for dispensing said material, said rolls having coaxial,substantially identical openings therethrough, comprising:

shaft means and means adapted to support said shaft means at spacedlocations thereon;

support means rotatably supported on said shaft means for permitting aplurality of said rolls to be independently rotatably supported on saidshaft means; said support means including a plurality of thin platelike5 members mounted in adjacent side-by-side relationship upon said shaftmeans for rotation around the axis of said shaft means in planessubstantially perpendicular thereto, said plate members havingout-of-round peripheral edges and each peripheral edge having at leasttwo points thereon contiguous with a circle coaxial with said axis andapproximately equal in diameter to the opening in one of said rolls, theremainder of the peripheral edge of each plate member being disposedinwardly of said circle, whereby each roll can be sleeved upon one ormore adjacent plate members for independent rotation relative to saidshaft means; and cutting means mounted on said support means and spacedfrom said support means radially of said axis for engagement by saidmaterial.

2. A device for rotatably supporting plural rolls of strip material andfor dispensing pieces of said strip material, said rolls having coaxialcylindrical openings of substantially the same diameter, comprising:

base means,

shaft means removably mounted upon said base means;

plural, relatively thin plate members rotatably supported,

one adjacent to another, upon said shaft means, the peripheral edge ofeach plate means being in the form of a regular polygon circumscribed bya circle concentric with said shaft and having a diameter substantiallyidentical with the diameter of said cylindrical openings, each platemember being spaced slightly from the plate members adjacent thereto,whereby said plural rolls can be sleeved upon one or more of said platemembers for independent rotation therewith;

spacing means positioned between and coacting with each pair of adjacentplate members for maintaining the adjacent plate members slightly spacedfrom one another; and

cutting edge means on said base means substantially parallel with saidshaft means and spaced therefrom a distance substantially greater thanthe radii of said circumscribed circles.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein alternate plate 45 membersalong said shaft means have integral, axial projections extending fromboth sides thereof for defining said spacing means whereby said spacingbetween said adjacent plate members is effected.

4. A device according to claim 2, where said spacing means includesannular spacing members rotatably supported around said shaft means andpositioned between each pair of adjacent plate members, whereby saidspacing is effected.

5. A device according to claim 2, for supporting at least three adjacentcoaxial rolls, wherein said cutting edge means has two parallel portionsspaced from each other in a direction substantially perpendicular to aplane defined by said cutting edge and the axis of said shaft means, thestrip material on at least one of said rolls being engageable with oneof said edge portions and the strip material on another of said rollsbeing engageable with the other cutting edge portion.

6. A cutting device according to claim 2, wherein said base meansincludes a pair of spaced and parallel arms; and

a pair of U-shaped clips, one thereof being secured to the free end ofeach arm for releasably engaging opposite end portions of said shaftmeans.

7. A device according to claim 1, further including spacing meanspositioned between and coacting with each pair of adjacent plate membersfor maintaining the adjacent plate members slightly spaced from oneanother.

8. A device according to claim 7, wherein said spacing means are alsomounted for rotation relative to said shaft means.

1. A device for rotatably and coaxially supporting plural rolls ofmaterial and for dispensing said material, said rolls having coaxial,substantially identical openings therethrough, comprising: shaft meansand means adapted to support said shaft means at spaced locationsthereon; support means rotatably supported on said shaft means forpermitting a plurality of said rolls to be independently rotatablysupported on said shaft means; said support means including a pluralityof thin platelike members mounted in adjacent side-by-side relationshipupon said shaft means for rotation around the axis of said shaft meansin planes substantially perpendicular thereto, said plate members havingout-of-round peripheral edges and each peripheral edge having at leasttwo points thereon contiguous with a circle coaxial with said axis andapproximately equal in diameter to the opening in one of said rolls, theremainder of the peripheral edge of each plate member being disposedinwardly of said circle, whereby each roll can be sleeved upon one ormore adjacent plate members for independent rotation relative to saidshaft means; and cutting means mounted on said support means and spacedfrom said support means radially of said axis for engagement by saidmaterial.
 2. A device for rotatably supporting plural rolls of stripmaterial and for dispensing pieces of said strip material, said rollshaving coaxial cylindrical openings of substantially the same diameter,comprising: base means, shaft means removably mounted upon said basemeans; plural, relatively thin plate members rotatably supported, oneadjacent to another, upon said shaft means, the peripheral edge of eachplate means being in the form of a regular polygon circumscribed by acircle concentric with said shaft and having a diameter substantiallyidentical with the diameter of said cylindrical openings, each platemember being spaced slightly from the plate members adjacent thereto,whereby said plural rolls can be sleeved upon one or more of said platemembers for independent rotation therewith; spacing means positionedbetween and coacting with each pair of adjacent plate members formaintaining the adjacent plate members slightly spaced from one another;and cutting edge means on said base means substantially parallel withsaid shaft means and spaced therefrom a distance substantially greaterthan the radii of said circumscribed circles.
 3. A device according toclaim 2, wherein alternate plate members along said shaft means haveintegral, axial projections extending from both sides thereof fordefining said spacing means whereby said spacing between said adjacentplate members is effected.
 4. A device according to claim 2, where saidspacing means includes annular spacing members rotatably supportedaround said shaft means and positioned between each pair of adjacentplate members, whereby said spacing is effected.
 5. A device accordingto claim 2, for supporting at least three adjacent coaxial rolls,wherein said cutting edge means has two Parallel portions spaced fromeach other in a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane definedby said cutting edge and the axis of said shaft means, the stripmaterial on at least one of said rolls being engageable with one of saidedge portions and the strip material on another of said rolls beingengageable with the other cutting edge portion.
 6. A cutting deviceaccording to claim 2, wherein said base means includes a pair of spacedand parallel arms; and a pair of U-shaped clips, one thereof beingsecured to the free end of each arm for releasably engaging opposite endportions of said shaft means.
 7. A device according to claim 1, furtherincluding spacing means positioned between and coacting with each pairof adjacent plate members for maintaining the adjacent plate membersslightly spaced from one another.
 8. A device according to claim 7,wherein said spacing means are also mounted for rotation relative tosaid shaft means.